Spring RTS Engine

Forgive me if this is a bit of a noobish question, but I'm asking on behalf of my father, who is a huge Total Annihilation fan. I understand that this is an engine based on the online multiplayer concept, but would there happen to be some sort of a pause button he can use in the single player against AI? Help much appreciated.

Yes. In fact, we managed to make this a global key issued on all keyboards. We tried to make it quite clear but we realize it may be difficult to understand for some.

The button is labeled "Pause". If you press this key, some cool complex shizzle will occur and if pressed correctly, the game will become motionless. This motionless behavior can be described as a pause, hence, why we labeled the button "Pause".

We hope this hasn't been too difficult for you. If you need help reading some of your other keys, I'll be happy to help.

Well to give a more serious answer: Yes you can pause the game. The answer is pretty self-evident - as Jazcash mentioned there should be a "Pause" button on your keyboard which will pause the game at any time. It's pretty much on the top right of the keyboard - it's actually the right one of the three buttons on the right of the "F12"...

In order to unpause simply hit the key again...

Hmm. Well, it appears our keyboard is a good deal different. I suppose it's worth mentioning that it's a DVORAK board, but there aren't any keys of that description. Looking at a more standard keyboard on my laptop, I see the key you're speaking of. Is there any way to bind that function to another key?

Wolvenreign wrote:I suppose it's worth mentioning that it's a DVORAK board

I think it's pretty worth mentioning yes. May I ask, why you are using a Dvorak keyboard?

In your Spring folder you'll find the uikeys.txt - that file contains all key bindings. There you should find this line:
Just change the Any+pause to something different. I have to admit though that I'm not sure what exactly happens when something else already was bound to the key you choose. I guess the last bind command in that textfile will be the one bound to the respective key...

@Jazcash:
Nevermind - misread something...

Well, time for a little history lesson, kids.

The QWERTY keyboard was developed for early 1900s typewriters. The reason the keys are laid out the way they are is so they may slow down typing speed, so your "typewriter" won't jam.

Some time after WWII, Dr. Dvorak developed a keyboard that would increase typing speed. Some studies with the Navy were done and they found it to increase typing speed, once they learned the new layout of the keys.

Essentially, I'm using DVORAK for the same reason I use Linux; old ways must die to make way for efficiency. We can't suckle on the teat of our past forever, or we'll never grow.

good reason (though i remember that there are other findings that say there is no notable difference in speed). though.. as i see it, the important thing that shoudl differ is the letters (a-z), right? no reason why there should not be a pause button.
..how do you do it in practise? you learned both sets, and switch in your head when you get to a qwerty one?
you set the OS to use the dvorak layout, and wont look at the keys on other PCs?
you always carry an USB Dvorak keyboard with you?

hoijui wrote:Good reason. (Though I remember that there are other findings that say there is no notable difference in speed). Although...as I see it, the important thing that should differ is the letters (a-z), right? There's no reason why there should not be a pause button.
How do you do it in practice? You learned both sets, and switch in your head when you get to a QWERTY one?
you set the OS to use the Dvorak layout, and wont look at the keys on other PCs?
Do you always carry an USB Dvorak keyboard with you?

Well, let me tell ya, it's a lot like....like finger shaped holes in the wall, shaped like a hand. You have two sets of holes, both shaped like the right hand. You place your right hand in one, but find it slightly uncomfortable. However, if you place your fingers in there often enough, it becomes a natural state of mind. (QWERTY)

There's another set of holes in slightly different positions. You place your fingers in there, and you learn this one even quicker. The position your hands, once placed, feel as if they've never been moved at all. Like you've had your fingers there all your life. It's not a learned thing, it's a natural thing. (DVORAK)

As far as looking at the keys, that's something that goes away naturally. You know where the holes are, so you don't need to look. I do carry a USB Dvorak in case I get carpal from QWERTY, but most of the time I'm not too intrusive about it.

As for the lack of a pause key, I think it's just a poor brand of keyboard from an OEM with token DVORAK support.

Edit: Forgive the editing in my quote, I'm a bit obsessive about these sorts of things. All due respect to you, sir.

Wolvenreign wrote:Essentially, I'm using DVORAK for the same reason I use Linux; old ways must die to make way for efficiency. We can't suckle on the teat of our past forever, or we'll never grow.

I know for sure that DVORAK is more efficient if you type large ammounts of english text. Even if from time to time everybody types some passages, there are a lot of activities that are different, like shell commands, shortcuts, programming, games, foreign languages, etc. It would be an interesting problem to make a keyboard as efficient as possible for all activities and languages out there...

Did you succeed with the binding of pause key ?

You could also check out the rest of the bindings in the file, if you really like efficiency .

Yes, the rebind was successful, to O key. Indeed, it would be an interesting problem. Perhaps when the world embraces the ways of Linux, all will work together to design the perfect "open-source" keyboard.

hoijui wrote:there are other findings that say there is no notable difference in speed

yeah, how about the finding that the current world typing record of some 230+wpm is held by someone typing on a dvorak keyboard

If all else fails in the keyboard department, certain games provide an on-screen menu that allows you to pause the game in addition to other actions (Complete Annihilation, The Cursed, Spring:1944). We are looking out for you, our valued player.

I have an apple keyboard... No Pause button, only F14 through 16 >.>

I bound it to Ctrl+P.

on my keyboard it's labelled "Pause Break" just above page up

I've got a labtop and my pause button is "Function + page up."
I can't use a mouse and click "pause" at the same time.
How can I change the pause to a different key? Is it possible without changing my main hardware? I am currently playing
"Supreme Annihilation," and it has no keyboard menu.
How do move the Pause key?

unknown_zzz wrote:I've got a labtop and my pause button is "Function + page up."
I can't use a mouse and click "pause" at the same time.
How can I change the pause to a different key? Is it possible without changing my main hardware? I am currently playing
"Supreme Annihilation," and it has no keyboard menu.
How do move the Pause key?

Master-Athmos wrote:In your Spring folder you'll find the uikeys.txt - that file contains all key bindings. There you should find this line:

Code: Select all

//  bind          Any+pause  pause

Just change the Any+pause to something different. I have to admit though that I'm not sure what exactly happens when something else already was bound to the key you choose. I guess the last bind command in that textfile will be the one bound to the respective key...

@Jazcash:
Nevermind - misread something...

It didn't work. I swapped "Any+pageup" to "Any+pause" and visa-versa in the file, but in the game, pause is still pause, and pageup is still pageup.
Is Spring Engine's uikeys and Supreme Annihilation key's different?
What should I try next?

adding a new post so I will get answered

huh... I'm not sure the // should be included.. also, try a different key

http://springrts.com/wiki/Using_custom_keys